We can learn a lot by looking at ourselves through the eyes of others. A Chinese scholar gave us that opportunity in his book, “America against America.”

Wang Hu is an important figure in the Chinese Communist Party today, but he came to America in 1988 as a young political scientist. Mr. Wang wanted to understand how the United States had become so powerful, while his own country had fallen so far behind.

He stayed for six months, traveled broadly, and then returned to China to write and publish his book. It became available in the U.S. only last year.

Mr. Wang found much to admire in his travels through our country: the democratic traditions that allowed orderly changes of leadership; the strength and energy of state and local governments; and our freewheeling dynamic economy. He acknowledged that our individualism – the belief that the purpose of society is to allow each person to reach his or her full potential – was fundamental to our rise to wealth and power.

But he predicted that the same individualism would cause our downfall someday. The two pillars of our political system were, as he saw it, freedom and equality – and they were in conflict. Americans will always choose freedom over equality, he said, and the resulting social strains would eventually pull the country apart.

Mr. Wang was viewing the world, as we all do, through the lens of his own culture, one with ancient roots. His comments about American families, as shown in the following quotes, are especially revealing in this respect.

American family life “…is the result of a society that has long pursued individualism. Americans have been trained in this way since childhood and regard this value as more important than any other value…Very young children, not even a year old, are usually sent to a separate room …At the age of 18 to 21, parents encourage their children to leave home and lead an independent life… Parents usually don’t care about their children’s marriage either, it’s up to them…Parents have to rely on the social security or welfare system [instead of their children] in their old age…On the surface, the family is still the cell of society, but in reality, the real cell of society in the United States is the individual.”

Mr. Wang disapproved of what he saw as a lack of solidarity and emotional support in American families, which he felt were “in a process of disintegration.” This is how it looked to someone from a traditional Asian culture, in which the desires of each family member are likely to carry less importance than the needs of the whole family – and of the community and nation as well. He predicted that America, focused as it was on the individual, would gradually lose its sense of oneness at all these levels, and spiral into decline.

A look at America today suggests that Mr. Wang’s prophecy is coming true. Robert Putnam’s book, “Bowling Alone,” published in 2000, documented the many ways in which Americans were becoming increasingly isolated from each other, undermining the sense of shared purpose needed for a strong democracy. An article in the March 2023 issue of the scientific journal Science Direct, using data from 2003 through 2020, showed that we have continued our slide toward social isolation and lack of involvement with family, friends, and community.

Our retreat from each other appears in the collapse of the trust we used to have in institutions of all kinds. Gallup polling from 2002 to this year reveals declining trust and confidence in almost all governmental and non-governmental organizations, even churches (see “Confidence in Institutions”). Pew Research, at pew.org on Oct. 17 last year, using data going back to the 1950s, uncovered the same trend.

The polarization, identity politics, and mean-spiritedness of our political life suggest that we too often fail to think of ourselves as more than just a collection of individuals and interest groups. It shows in the way politicians and commentators focus on what divides us, and ignore our commonalities.

Authoritarian governments like China’s are counting on Mr. Wang’s prediction of disunity and decline to come true. It’s a key part of their efforts to weaken America and its democratic values around the world. Individualism has been an essential part of our success as a nation, but it may turn out to be a tragic weakness in the end, if we don’t find a way to balance it with an understanding that we’re all in this together.

P.S.: This month marks the 10th anniversary of my column in the Ogle County Life. Thanks to those who have read it, and to The Ogle County Life for publishing it.

• Lowell Harp is a retired school psychologist who served school districts in Ogle County. For previous columns, follow him on Facebook.